


the rush of your embrace

by Blob47, sapphire_deity



Series: Chocolate Oranges [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: A/B/O, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Clonecest, Don't Like Don't Read, First Meetings, Heat Fic, Lots of cuddles, M/M, Meet-Cute, Rex being grumpy, all other named characters are alphas, alpha!Bacara, cramping, first heat, joint pains, mentions of physical discomfort, nest making, omega!Rex, sfw, slight AU, some moments of panic, some sparring, some tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28496793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blob47/pseuds/Blob47, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire_deity/pseuds/sapphire_deity
Summary: Rex’s skin had started crawling in the mess hall that morning.  He ignored it, because the first thing you learned as an omega mutie was that if you showed even the barest hint of being any more defective, it was immediate decommissioning.If the looks being thrown his way were mostly from the alphas, he ignored that too.
Relationships: CC-1138 | Bacara/CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Chocolate Oranges [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087412
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	the rush of your embrace

**Author's Note:**

> See end notes for translations.

Rex’s skin had started crawling in the mess hall that morning. He ignored it, because the first thing you learned as an omega mutie was that if you showed even the barest hint of being any more defective, it was immediate decommissioning. He ignored it through weapons practice, through the flight sims, through midmeal, he even managed to ignore it during cardio when his joints began to ache and his stomach started cramping on him. He couldn’t afford to be sick, couldn’t afford to slow down, couldn’t afford to notice the looks being thrown his way by his classmates. If those looks happened to be primarily from the alphas in his class, he didn’t notice that either. Everything was passing by in a blur, most of his brain power focusing on not being obviously uncomfortable and the rest trying to not fail his training modules. He managed it, until he got to his afternoon sparring session with Fordo.

Even that would have been fine, he was paired with two betas first and he beat them both in one-on-one spars. And then Fordo paired him with an already-presented alpha. 

The alpha in question wasn’t one that Rex knew, from reputation he was a bit of a dick and Rex did his best to stay away from those types. It was one of the rules that Cody had drilled into him time and time again as soon as he could understand what being omega meant.

The alpha across from him was smirking as they sparred, trying to close the distance between them at every opportunity even as Rex tried to keep him at arm’s length. Even being close to the other clone felt... _wrong._

Caught off guard as he tried to puzzle out why it felt so bad to be close, the other cadet dodged his strike and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him into a hold. The hold was loose, sloppy, it would have been easy for Rex to get out of in a professional manner and then beat him into the ground. Or at least, it would have been, on a normal day. 

Every nerve on his body lit up, everything in him screaming _danger._ The ache in his joints and the cramps in his stomach intensified, bringing him to the border of overstimulation and sensory overload. All coherent thought fled his mind, every scrap of sparring knowledge he had learned no longer there. The only thing that kept pounding through his mind was _get away._ He snarled, beyond vocalizing, scent turning rotten with distress. Hands lashed out, scratching blindly at the alpha’s face, entire body writhing in a desperate attempt to escape. The alpha holding him was so taken aback that he couldn’t even let go, barely avoiding fingers in his eyes. 

A shadow loomed over the two, Fordo glaring down at the younger alpha, lip curling. Without a word he leaned down and physically ripped the alpha off of Rex, throwing him several feet away.

“You _di’kut_ ,” he hissed, “he’s presenting, smells distressed as shit, and you keep holding him? Get out of my sight.”

The boy fled without a word, escaping out of the gym trailing the scent of fear in his wake. Fordo turned back to Rex, who had curled up into a ball and was quietly keening. The massive alpha leaned down, touching him lightly on the scruff of the neck. Rex twitched, curling in tighter to himself.

“Alright pup, you’re having your first heat. I have to get you to a room, so I have to carry you, I’m sorry. We’ll get someone to make it better soon.”

Without giving Rex the chance to protest or make more of a scene than he already had, Fordo pulled him into his arms, standing with Rex still mostly in a ball. Slight tremors took over his body and intermittent snarling started up again as Fordo jogged across to the doors and out into the hall. Thankfully the young omega wasn’t scratching at him, but he was clearly uncomfortable and Fordo wasn’t going to put the kid through more discomfort than what was absolutely necessary.

_Di’kut,_ he berated himself. _You know what a heat looks like, it was written all over him._ His own thoughts devolved into irritated growling as he approached the heat rooms, isolated on one of the lower levels of the city. Checking Rex into an empty one, manipulating the ‘pad and door with one hand, he got him into the room. As soon as he set the kid down Rex ran to the cot with its blanket and pair of pillows, sitting down with his back to the wall and glaring out at Fordo. The alpha raised his hands in the air, backing slowly out of the room.

“Alright, I hear ya. Somebody will be around to help you, don’t kill them.”

He closed the door, seeing Rex’s frame relax slightly as the door closed. He opened his comm, sending out the announcement to the trainers and alerting them that he was definitely not a viable option. A few minutes later, a ping was sent out with a list of numbers.

_CC-3636, CT-4946, CC-1016, CC-8826, CC-1138. Protocol 70._

Rex waited, alone and uncomfortable on the bunk with limited nesting materials. He had arranged the blanket and pillows as well as he could, actually moving the mattress off the bunk and tucking it into the corner for improved structure. Then all he could do was wait for the promised alpha to come as his cramping got worse and he got crabbier. After what seemed like hours, the door opened. A smell like cold, dry stone filtered into his nostrils, a scent that he actually knew. Wolffe, one of Cody’s best friends. Normally he didn’t mind the older clone’s scent, but at that moment he couldn’t stand the thought of his nest smelling like something hard and uncomfortable.

“No.”

It was as deep a rumble as he could make it, underlaid with a whine of disappointment that he couldn’t prevent. Wolffe frowned.

“You sure Rex?”

“ _Out.”_

His voice cracked and his scent soured to a more sickly odor, so Wolffe beat a hasty retreat. He knew better than to force it with an omega, and Rex in particular. Cody would have his _shebs_ if he hurt his _vod’ika._

_Boil, you’re up. Turned me down flat._

A much shorter length of time passed between Wolffe and the next alpha. A CT this time, with a stern face, that Rex didn’t recognize the scent of but who he had seen being eyed by Cody for his eventual personal squad. He couldn’t remember his name, so he closed his eyes and scented the air. He smelled almost like some kind of plant, with an earthy...sticky? smell to him. Rex wrinkled his nose and opened his eyes to see the alpha kneeling just outside his nest, hand outstretched to him.

“Rex. I’m Boil. If you’re settled we can get you feeling more comfortable.”

Rex stared at him for a moment, blinking. Considering. Then his eyes narrowed and he shook his head.

“No. You smell too sticky.”

“Rex, you can’t be picky--”

Rex lunged forward, swatting at the hand that was still too close to him. With a huff and an eye roll, Boil stood and left, walking stiff-legged out the door. Rex sagged as he left, curling back into his nest. He wrapped his arms around his stomach, hoping to ease the pain there.

He recognized the next alpha to walk in, Fordo had used him as a sparring partner for demonstrations several times for more advanced techniques. _Colt_ , his brain supplied the afterthought, but he was far more involved in checking his scent. As his heat advanced his nose got more and more sensitive, it only took him a couple of seconds to pick up on the scent coming from Colt. He smelled like the smoke that came from the end of a freshly used blaster, which was normally a comforting smell to Rex, but all he could think was that he didn’t want his nest to smell like violence. He glared up at Colt, eyes narrowed. Colt was by far the most emotionally aware of the men who had come in up to that point, and took the hint. He had barely made it in the door anyway, so he simply reversed, waving with a sad smile as the door slid shut. Rex relaxed minutely at the easy capitulation, even though he seemed to have flattened out into a constant state of discomfort.

The second the door slid open again, another alpha strode confidently into the room, smirk firmly affixed to his face.

“Rex, right? Name’s Neyo, we’re gonna get along just fine, don’t you worry.”

Rex had never seen this alpha before in his life, never smelled him, but the smell that hit him washed over him like a sickening wave. He smelled like cold, freshly sharpened metal. Also like violence, but brutal violence, and anger. Neyo moved to kneel into Rex’s nest, without even asking for permission, and Rex _lost it._

He open-mouth growled, hand flashing out and cuffing Neyo on the ear, nails scratching by on his face and drawing tiny pinpricks of blood.

“Don’t you _dare_ , my nest, my territory, not _yours_!”

He was yelling by the end, tears pricking at his eyes and distress oozing off of him in waves of the scent of something rotting that physically staggered the alpha. Neyo stood and stumbled away, muttering to himself.

“Alright, alright, calm down kid, we’ll send someone else…”

His words drifted out of hearing as the door slid shut behind him. Rex swallowed back his tears, curling into his pillows and closing his eyes. 

The longest gap yet, it had to be at least half an hour and Rex was losing hope. He had begun to try and resign himself to two days of misery when the door slid open again and the most delicious scent he had ever experienced hit his nostrils. Sweet, but on the border of savory, it smelled rich and luxurious and Rex felt drawn to it like nothing he had ever experienced before. He sat bolt upright, meeting the eyes of an already-massive alpha CC who he had never seen before. He stood uncertainly in the doorway, favoring his left leg, looking at Rex with a mixture of hunger and confusion and no small amount of fear.

“Rex, right? I’m Bacara. Can I come in?”

The words came out hesitant, shy, much smaller than one would expect from a man so large, but in just as deep a tone as one would think. Rex didn’t answer, springing out of the nest and flying across the room to the-- _Bacara,_ who smelled so delicious and why wasn’t he already _in his nest._

“I guess that’s a yes then.” 

Bacara chuckled, typing in an _All clear_ to his com while being dragged across the room by the determined omega. Rex plopped down into the nest and looked up at his alpha, patting the ground next to him. The second Bacara lowered himself gingerly to the ground, Rex curled up into his good side, instinct guiding to avoid the bad leg. An audible groan echoed in the space as the cramps and tension in his joints and muscles finally eased. His own scent lightened, turning back to the sweet tangy smell that he didn’t have a name for but the Template insisted was oranges. 

“Sorry, you just smell delicious and it made it stop hurting. Bacara…?”

“‘S fine, Rex. Yeah, Bacara.”

Rex simply hummed in response, snuggling in closer, content now that he had his alpha there to watch over him and the nest. Bacara didn’t try to further the conversation, just lowered himself down into the nest enough so they could both lay comfortably and pet Rex’s hair until they both fell asleep.

The next day cycle seemed to pass in a blur, Rex whining every time Bacara tried to move away and Bacara doing his best to soothe the omega that had attached to him. The morning of the second day, Bacara woke up to Rex looking contemplative from where his head was on Bacara’s own chest.

“Rex?”

Rex jumped, flushing slightly as he turned to look up at him.

“Okay?”

Rex blinked for a moment, then nodded.

“Just realizing that I don’t know you, and my heat is nearly over and I thought they weren’t supposed to be this,” here he gestured to their close proximity, “easy?”

“Your heat should be done by the end of today, roughly. And I don’t know you either, to be fair.”

Rex moved, sitting upright against the wall and pulling Bacara up to sit next to him so they could lean on each other.

“Well, my name is Rex, CT-7567, I’m a small arms and close-quarters specialist for the most part. Too young for a squad yet, I’m 8, as you might expect. And clearly I’m a _tiny_ bit defective.”

At the last part he waved a casual hand up to the short blond hair that Bacara had been petting for the last cycle and a half. Bacara smiled slightly.

“If that’s how we’re doing this. Bacara, CC-1138. Hand-to-hand and all around heavy arms specialist. 21st Nova Corps I’ve been told. 9, and I’m not defective even if my batchmates insist I must be.”

Rex chuckled, he had heard his own batchmates teasing each other about being defective. Every clone did, until it got too close to home.

“Nova, huh? Wow, no wonder you’re so big if you’re gonna be a marine.”

“Have to be in shape for the front lines. Davin always says--”

“Wait, you’re Davin’s? How were you allowed here, he’s a _demagolka_!”

Rex cut him off in shock at the name, eyes blowing wide. Bacara’s shoulders pulled in slightly, shuffling in place and he gestured at his left leg.

“I got in a training accident a few cycles ago, messed my leg up really bad. Davin was forced to let me go to medbay or else the knee could have been ruined. Turns out, being on omega duty takes precedence over recuperating from a leg injury, so I got let out to come here.”

Rex considered this in silence then shook his head definitively.

“Well, glad I’m clearly so important.”

A quiet snort, and they fell into comfortable quiet for a time. Rex broke it first, though he wasn’t sure how long it was since there wasn’t a chrono in the room.

“Bacara?”

“Hmm?”

“Why am I so okay with you being here? I mean, kriff, obviously you don’t know I just, my hindbrain hasn’t stopped purring since you got here. The only thing I can think of seems a little...far-fetched.”

He felt Bacara shift slightly to look down at him, though Rex didn’t meet his gaze.

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. Isn’t there something where your hindbrain knows who your mate is supposed to be? Cody told me about it once, said he hadn’t felt it before but it was something that the Template mentioned when the older cadets asked him about it. Before he got- before he stopped coming around.”

As he spoke he could feel Bacara nodding along as he talked. The motion continued after he finished, and when Rex glanced up at him he seemed deep in thought.

“I’ve heard of that, too...I never thought about it. Didn’t think it would be for me. ‘Specially after Davin.”

“After Davin?”

Rex narrowed his eyes at him, finally sitting up enough to meet his eyes. The older alpha glanced away, eyes skittering to the floor.

“You’ve heard about us. The ones he picks. Nobody checks, after he does. We just...go. Because we’re not normal. Mates are a normal thing, for normal people. We’re neither”

Nostrils flaring, Rex leaned into his space, reaching out a careful and clearly visible hand to cup the side of his face. There was something indescribable about Bacara’s eyes, such a mixture of strong feeling and something shattered but carefully held together. He only noticed now that they were making eye contact so close together, but they were the tiniest bit darker than normal. Still within parameters, but still setting him apart.

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not normal either. _Supposedly_ I’m defective, so if anyone’s going to be doomed to not have a mate, it should be me, not you. You’re different because you’re better, because he sees your strength and wants it for himself. That makes him a _hut’uun_ , and you far better than him.”

Bacara frowned at him, pulling his face away and looking at the wall to the side. Rex let him and leaned out of his space slightly, despite it making his skin start crawling again. He let the silence reign, let Bacara process his words and come to his own conclusion.

“Would you even want me as a mate, knowing what you do?”

Of all the questions Rex was expecting, that wasn’t one of them. His second of hesitation made Bacara’s shoulders hunch inward again, shrinking before his eyes. He rushed to answer.

“I don’t know, but I know I want to find out. I just want the chance to know who you are outside of this room, when I’m not a mess and you’re not trapped. Is that fair?”

Knowing he was Davin’s, knowing he had even less of a choice than most of the _vod’e,_ Rex left it up to him. Mentally vowing to follow his choice regardless of if it left him heartbroken for something he would never be able to know.

“I don’t connect well. With our other brothers. ‘S hard, for me to love people if I don’t know them. You should know that.”

“So we get to know each other first. Leave love out of it. We can be friends, first. Get to the other stuff later, if ever. We can make this work, Bacara. Please, just give it a chance.”

Bacara nodded slowly, but didn’t answer. Rex settled back next to him, and they sat in silence until the timer chimed, letting them know that Rex’s heat was biologically over and he needed to report to the medics for his first round of suppressants to be prescribed. Rex sighed, then stood, but as he went to walk away Bacara caught his hand.

“I’ll try.”

Two words, two tiny words that made Rex light up like a beacon, beaming down at the alpha.

“ _We’ll_ try.”

Bacara smiled up at him, allowing Rex to pull him to his feet and keep his hand as they left the room, only separating when they caught the scent of someone else ahead in the corridor. A final wave as they parted ways, Rex to the medbay and Bacara back to Davin, and Rex could feel that this...this was the start of something good.

**Author's Note:**

> Bless Blob47 for allowing me to write this amazing concept! All credit goes to blob for the idea, I merely put it to words with editing and characterization help from them. This is not the end for our beloved boys, hopefully there will be many more one-shots to come from this universe!
> 
> Mando'a Translations from mandoa.org:  
> demagolka: someone who commits atrocities, a real-life monster, a war criminal  
> di'kut: idiot, useless individual, waste of space (lit. someone who forgets to put their pants on)  
> hut'uun: coward (worst possible insult)  
> shebs: backside, rear, buttocks  
> vod'e: siblings, name for the clones as a group  
> vod'ika: little sibling


End file.
